Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.75.

FTS has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS stock traded down $0.74 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.10. 93,480 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 584,898. The company has a market capitalization of $20.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.30, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.44. Fortis has a 12-month low of $34.76 and a 12-month high of $50.63. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 6.63%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its holdings in Fortis by 7.0% in the third quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 9,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 6.4% in the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 415,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,856,000 after acquiring an additional 25,113 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Fortis by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 114,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,595,000 after acquiring an additional 17,946 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 1,306.8% in the third quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 213,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,101,000 after acquiring an additional 198,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Fortis by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,792,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,772,000 after buying an additional 1,022,068 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 49.59% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Company Profile

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Fortis, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the electric and gas utility industry. It operates under the Regulated Utilities and Non-Regulated segments. The Regulated Utilities segment includes ITC Holdings (ITC), UNS Energy Corporation (UNS Energy), Central Hudson, FortisBC Energy, FortisAlberta, and FortisBC Electric.